Thomas Sowell wrote that, “Liberals take positions that make them look good and feel good — and show very little interest in the actual consequences for others, even when liberal policies are leaving havoc in their wake”. We’re seeing the proof of that aphorism right now, in Australia’s remote Aboriginal communities.
When the Howard government introduced alcohol bans in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, as part of its intervention, following the damning Little Children Are Sacred report into horrific rates of violence and sexual abuse, the left were incandescent. “Racism!” they cried. Fifteen years later, the bans have lapsed, as part of an NT Labor election promise. Calls for the Albanese federal government to intervene and reinstate the bans were ignored.
Aboriginal women in remote communities are already seeing the results.
A lobby group has called on the Northern Territory to release more data illustrating the extent of the harm caused, since long-term alcohol bans were lifted across dozens of Indigenous communities in July.
As Sowell said, the virtue-signalling left are all care and no responsibility.
While the NT government said there had been “no substantial increases” in harm to the community since the Stronger Futures legislation was repealed, police and other frontline organisations have told a different story about the impact alcohol is having.
In the the latest NT Police statistics, there was a 260 per cent jump in assaults involving alcohol in Alice Springs in August 2022, compared to the same period last year.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, according to the group People’s Alcohol Action Coalition (PAAC).
PAAC spokesperson John Boffa said the number of assaults causing serious harm — broken down by region — was a key data set held by the government.
“These are the assaults that could have killed someone, but didn’t,” Dr Boffa said.
“We only publicly see the data at a territory level — it’s useless.
“We need to see that broken down by region over time — that’s what’s really going to tell us the level of the harm and the severity of the harm that we’re seeing.”
Meanwhile, the NT and federal governments have yet to complete a data monitoring dashboard, which was supposed to provide real-time, granular data regarding hospital admission, arrests, and child removals.
“We’re hoping that this data will become public in a report that we can all look at, then everyone can examine [it],” Dr Boffa said.
“If we’re going to make informed decisions, we’ve got to know the extent of the increased harm.”
ABC Australia
Who cares about informed decisions, though, when there’s virtue to be signalled? At least they’re not being “racist” any more. I’m sure that’s enormous comfort to bashed women and abused kids.
